Yuri's PoV
In the Deca Tower, the dark-skinned inkling opened up the room containing the Rainbow Squids' weapons. The floor panels slid open, and he walked down into the dark room. As he searched for his splatling, he noticed something odd about the contents in the room. Neither Roy's Luna Blaster nor Octavia's Octobrush Nouveau was inside.
They can't both be doing turf wars, he recalled, shaking his head. Perry took Octavia to Marie's concert tonight, making it impossible for the wavy-haired girl to be out battling right now. Has the split really gotten that bad? Worry crossed his features. That can't be the case! It has to get better!
Yuri took his Heavy Splatling Deco and started going up the stairs. As he started walking towards an elevator, he quickly spotted Roy coming out of one. Upon sight, the yellow-haired boy started calling his friend's name, and ran up to him.
"Yuri!" Roy exclaimed. He placed a hand on his chest and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank cod you're on my side."
"Since when did we start taking sides?" he perplexed. And besides, no one wanted this to happen in the first place!
"Look, Perry took you-know-who to the concert tonight," he pointed out. "That's one less ally for me." The grip around his blaster tightened. "And Bonnie and Alexis took her side, obviously." Frantically, the boy with hair swept to the side added, "You and Inigo are the only ones left!"
"Roy!" He frowned. "All of us still care about both of ya." He bit his lip. What am I supposed to say? "No matter what, we're still the Rainbow Squids."
"I..." Roy grumbled and took a few steps past him. "This time, it's different."
Yuri put away his splatling and caught up with his friend. "What do you mean?"
"The sunglasses..." The tan-skinned inkling shifted his ink color back to red as they exited the tower. Outside, they were met with the sight of a sunset. The entire time they walked, however, Roy never bothered to look at his spiky-haired friend. "We didn't pay for them."
He lowered his studio headphones, now placing them around his neck. "Why not?"
His friend swung around, looking at Yuri with furious red eyes. "Because Octavia broke them! And she wouldn't pay for it!"
"Why does she have to pay for it?"
"Because she broke it!" He pointed a finger at his chest. "It's not my responsibility to pay for it if I didn't break it!"
"OK... um... how did she break it?"
"She was hogging the glasses, so I took it, yeah? But then, she tried to grab it out of my hand. She pulled on it, and then BAM! It's broken!"
"I see..." The dark-skinned boy put a hand on the side of his head, thinking. Silence rested between them. Soon, he finally admitted, "I don't know how I can help you."
"You wanna know how to help?" he grumbled. "Get her to pay for the sunglasses."
"Can't I pay for it mysel-"
"No! It has to be her!" Roy interrupted. "I don't want anyone helping!" Yuri simply frowned in response to his stubbornness. The red-haired inkling then let out a huff and announced, "I'm going home. See ya." He stomped away, going further and further away until he was merely a speck in the distance.
Oh, Roy... Yuri got out his Heavy Splatling Deco again and walked back towards the tower for another match.
After a few matches, the yellow-haired inkling put his splatling away and started walking back home. He was just getting tired. It was night, now, and clouds covered the sky, though stars shined dimly through the fluffy canopy. As he walked, however, he heard a voice.
"Come, one and all! To Timmy's Terrific Trinkets!" someone advertised. He looked to his left and saw a booth, its counter covered with various items. Running it was a spider crab, though he seemed a little tired. "No inklings allowed!"
Taken aback, Yuri muttered under his breath, "No inklings allowed?" He walked up to the booth, and indeed, taped to the end of the sign was a paper with the spider crab's exact words written on it.
Timmy glared at him. "Are you daft? Didn't you hear me? Or read the sign? 'No inklings allowed!'"
"I did, but I just wanted to ask you somethin'," replied the spiky-haired boy.
"What?" he snapped.
"Why aren't inklings allowed?"
"Well, a few days ago, two inklings came by and wanted to buy one of my exclusive sunglasses. However, they had an argument and broke it! Do you know how much that cost me? And they didn't even pay me back!" the spider crab explained, crossing his arms.
"Oh..." Roy and Via, he presumed. "Do you think you'll ever reopen it to inklings?" His yellow eyes drifted down to the trinkets on the counter. "Those are really interesting."
Timmy laughed. "What kind of question is that?! No!"
"Even if one of them paid you the damages?"
This caught the crab's attention. "Hmm..." He put a claw underneath his chin, snapping it as he was thinking. "I suppose I could."
Yuri pulled out his wallet, got out a pile of coins, and slid it towards him. "Here."
Timmy counted the coins, utilizing all of his limbs to do it quickly and efficiently. "A little extra..." he then concluded, "but I'll take it!" He reached over to the front of the booth and ripped the piece of paper off the sign. "Tah-dah! Inklings are allowed again!" He then got out another piece of paper that contained poorly-drawn sketches of Roy and Octavia. "Except these two!"
"Fresh," he said, ignoring the spider crab's last statement. He started walking past the booth. "I'll see you another time."
"Come again!" Timmy shouted as a goodbye.
As he continued his trek home, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. Yuri took it out and saw a notification from Squidsagram. He opened it and was met with the sight of Perry and Octavia smiling for the camera, with a stage with a lime green color scheme in the background. On the jumbotron was Marie, who had her mouth open, as if she was singing. With a smile, the spiky-haired inkling liked the selfie and put his cellphone away. He continued strolling along the streets when he bumped into something.
He looked down to see Yvonne, rubbing her head as she stumbled. "Sorry!" he apologized.
"No worry!" the octoling assured. "I am fine!" She gave a toothy smile. Then, her smile fell, and she looked at him with yellow eyes as she tilted her head a little bit. "You no look fine."
"Huh?"
"You look... worry."
"Worry?" He shook his head. "N-No, no!" he lied. "Things aren't great, that's all! Everything's gonna get better soon." Yuri finished with a fake smile. He hoped things would get better between Roy and Octavia. They have to.
Yvonne was silent for a few moments before she simply nodded. "OK," she said. "Get well soon!" She proceeded to bound away, humming the tune to Calamari Inkantation to herself.
"But I'm not s..." He trailed off. Then, he did a little chuckle to himself.
What a strange girl...
A/N: Will things get better? You'll find out soon... Though, not next chapter, since next chapter's a Hero Mode chapter. There will be references to this split in that chapter, though, so keep an eye out for them. Branchwing, out!